Pallone Blasts Republican Hypocrisy on the SUPPORT Act

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to H.R. 2483, SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2483, legislation that reauthorizes the SUPPORT Act.  

Last Congress, this bill passed with strong bipartisan support right here on the House floor under suspension of the rules. But, today, it is coming up under a rule because a lot has changed since last year.  

As we all know, there’s a new Administration, and the Trump Administration is attacking mental health and substance use response efforts on every front. Republicans want to move forward with this legislation at the same time they are silently watching as the Trump Administration dismantles SAMHSA), the very agency that is responsible for carrying out the programs that the SUPPORT Act reauthorizes. 

Thanks to our efforts in recent years, we’ve made significant improvements in combating the opioid overdose epidemic that has devastated families in every community throughout our nation. But those improvements are now threatened as the Trump Administration guts the very programs and funding that have helped us turn the corner.  

In the past few months, the Trump Administration has completely eroded the mental health and substance use treatment landscape as we know it. It has fired hundreds of workers at SAMHSA, including key senior officials such as the director of the center focused on mental health. The Department continues to refuse to respond to my repeated requests about how many SAMHSA employees have been terminated and how many additional firings are planned. It has eliminated entire offices that are responsible for collecting data on mental health and substance use and helping people locate treatment services. These actions will only make it harder for people seeking treatment to find care.  

The Trump Administration is also eliminating SAMHSA altogether, without congressional authorization. It will be combined with other agencies that the Trump Administration doesn’t care about under the banner of a larger “Make America Healthy Again Office.” These critical programs to treat mental health and substance abuse will be deprioritized or eliminated in favor of Secretary Kennedy’s’s pet projects, like destroying Americans’ access to vaccines. Congress has received zero information from the Administration about how this new office will work, and how the work of SAMHSA to address the mental health and substance use treatment needs of our communities will be prioritized.  

The Trump Administration is also rescinding more than $1 billion in essential funding that states rely on through block grants. It has also proposed eliminating dozens of different mental health and substance use programs, including eight programs reauthorized by the SUPPORT Act. This includes programs to train first responders who respond to opioid overdose calls, provide residential treatment to pregnant and postpartum women, and support people in long-term recovery. If Republicans really support these programs, they should be opposing the President’s budget, which lays out plans to cut the very programs they claim to care about. 

In fact, the Trump Administration’s budget goes further and proposes eliminating nearly all of the SUPPORT Act programs, as they propose to eliminate all so-called “Programs of Regional and National Significance.” This is the umbrella under which nearly all of the SUPPORT Act programs reside. They have also proposed gutting the Mental Health Block Grant, the Substance Abuse Block Grant, and the State Opioid Response Grants, consolidating them into one program with a deep funding cut. Let me be clear—this is not a budget proposal in the traditional sense. This is a road map for what the Trump Administration plans to do unless the federal courts prevent them from proceeding. Their expansive and limitless view of the President’s authority knows no bounds –if DOGE wants to cut entire agencies, eliminate programs, and impound funds—they will do it regardless of the law.  

The Trump Administration is making clear that funding treatment and prevention for mental health and substance abuse issues is not a priority. And unfortunately, Republican majorities in both the House and Senate silently sit by and watch all the destruction and illegal actions. House Republicans have not conducted any oversight of this Administration.  

And let us not forget, last month, House Republicans passed the biggest cut to Medicaid in history as part of their scheme to fund giant tax breaks for billionaires. As the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just announced today, the GOP Tax Scam cuts 16 million people from their health care—all to give tax breaks to their billionaire friends. Medicaid covers 40 percent of all Americans with opioid use disorder – gutting the program will leaves millions of Americans without access to life-saving care. We can’t just go back to business as usual after that devastation was supported and passed by my Republican colleagues. 

All of these actions completely undermine the efforts we have made to address substance use disorder in communities across the country. They will have disastrous and deadly consequences on the millions of Americans impacted by substance use disorder.

And yet, House Republicans are here on the floor today pretending that we’re conducting business as usual here in Washington. If that were the case – I would join them in supporting this legislation just as I did last Congress. But this Administration is not conducting business as usual, and Republicans are doing absolutely nothing to fight back.  

And, therefore, Mr. Speaker, I cannot support this legislation while our mental health and substance use treatment infrastructure is being gutted by the Trump Administration. There needs to be a functioning agency to implement the programs in this bill. There needs to be actual funding for the agency to carry out these programs.  

If Republicans were really interested in continuing to combat the opioid overdose crisis, they would finally join us in opposing the illegal actions of the Trump Administration rather than hiding behind this legislation today.    

And with that I reserve the balance of my time.

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